| view | Tommy Brown | During WW II, major league baseball made do with players who were too young or too old to be drafted, or physically unfit for active duty. In 1943 Brooklyn-born Tommy Brown was a fifteen-year-old high school dropout working on the New York docks and playing sandlot baseball on weekends. One year later he became the youngest player ever to start a major league game and a year later the youngest to hit a home run. He had a nine-year career 1944-1953 as a utility infielder and outfielder with the Dodgers, Phillies and Cubs. |